McCain: 3 Strikes and You Are Out

Here, while appearing on NBC News with Diane Sawyer John McCain possibly misspoke when talking about the “Iraq/Pakistan Border” which, according to maps (and facts), is not geographically possible.
Iraq and Pakistan do not border each other, and they are separated by Iran.

Read about Strike 2 here.

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Once is a Mistake, Twice is Senility

First, McCain refers to a country that has been closed and split for over a decade: Czechoslovakia.

Now, he thinks Putin is the President of Germany. Not only is henot the President of Germany, Putin is NOT the President ANYWHERE.

What’s next? giving the orders to nuke North Korea or Iran then forgetting he said it?

Experience or not, McCain is TOO OLD and forgetful. All the experience in the world is not going to help him remember anything.

See the story of his last and final strike here.

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John McCain’s Adviser Quits After Insulting America

Former Texas Sen. Phil Gramm resigned Friday from his role as GOP presidential candidate John McCain’s campaign co-chairman, hoping to quiet the uproar that followed his comments that the United States had become a “nation of whiners” whose constant complaints about the U.S. economy show they are in a “mental recession.”

Gramm, a past presidential candidate, made the remarks more than a week ago. McCain immediately distanced himself from the comments, but they brought a steady stream of criticism just as McCain is trying to show he can help steer the country past its current financial troubles.

Gramm said in a statement late Friday that he is stepping down to “end this distraction.”

“It is clear to me that Democrats want to attack me rather than debate Senator McCain on important economic issues facing the country,” Gramm said. “That kind of distraction hurts not only Senator McCain’s ability to present concrete programs to deal with the country’s problems, it hurts the country. To end this distraction and get on with the real debate, I hereby step down as co-chair of the McCain campaign and join the growing number of rank-and-file McCain supporters.”

Gramm made the comment to The Washington Times and later explained that he was talking about the nation’s leaders not the American people. Democrats claimed at the time that the Gramm comments showed that McCain is out of touch with voters’ concerns over high gas prices, the struggling housing industry and the shaky economy in general.

The campaign of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said Gramm’s departure will make little difference to McCain’s economic policies.

“The question for John McCain isn’t whether Phil Gramm will continue as chairman of his campaign, but whether he will continue to keep the economic plan that Gramm authored and that represents a continuation of the polices that have failed American families for the last eight years,” said Obama campaign spokesman Hari Sevugan.

Article by Devlin Barrett
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Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

McCain Supports School Vouchers at NAACP Convention

On Wednesday, John McCain told the annual convention of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, he will expand education opportunities for children in failing schools, including vouchers for children to attend private school. The NAACP is the nation’s oldest civil rights organization

In his speech, McCain praised Democrat Barack Obama’s historic campaign. McCain added that Obama is wrong to oppose school vouchers for students in failing public schools. Tools like vouchers and other merit pay for teachers to break from conventional thinking on educational policy. The question remains though, how does McCain to help raise money for such programs without raising taxes or greatly scaling back or cutting expenses like the war he supports.

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Bush McCain need 100 years to improve the economy and to bring troops home.

Bush in his speech to the G8 stated that “There is no quick fix for the economy”. Some how, I feel he was inferring, if he had more time, he could fix it. It would take Bush & McBush at least a 100 years to begin to understand it and another 100 to improve it. By then we would, no doubt, be known as the New China… a name change after defaulting on our gazillion dollar loan payments to Old China.

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Getting Your Plane Shot Down Does Not Make You Qualified

Gen. Wesley Clark, acting as a surrogate for Barack Obama’s campaign, invoked John McCain’s military service against him in one of the more personal attacks on the Republican presidential nominee this election cycle.

Clark said that McCain lacked the executive experience necessary to be president, calling him “untested and untried” on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” And in saying so, he took a few swipes at McCain’s military service.

“He has been a voice on the Senate Armed Services Committee. And he has traveled all over the world. But he hasn’t held executive responsibility. That large squadron in the Navy that he commanded — that wasn’t a wartime squadron,” Clark said.

“I don’t think getting in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to become president.”

Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.), also on CBS, was equally uncharitable towards Obama’s record on foreign policy as he continued to distance himself from his former party.

“Sen. Obama, unfortunately, like a lot of the Democratic leadership, continues to take a position that we ought to withdraw … even though the new policy is working,” said Lieberman. “If we had done what Sen. Obama asked us to do for the last couple of years, today Iran and Al Qaeda would be in control of Iraq. It would be a terrible defeat for us and our allies in the Middle East and throughout the world.”

Meanwhile, the opposition narratives for the fall election campaign appeared to be in full force on ABC’s “This Week,” with Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) calling McCain a flip-flopper, while Republican Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty accused Obama of not working in a bipartisan fashion.

Emanuel attacked McCain for changing his position on offshore oil drilling, President Bush’s tax cuts and his relationship with the evangelical community.

Quipped Emanuel: “If flip-flop was an Olympic sport, John McCain would be the first to win a gold medal.”

But Pawlenty cited McCain’s record on immigration and his support of increasing U.S. troop presence in Iraq as ample evidence that he bucks his party on account of principle — and then challenged Emanuel to name one piece of legislation where Obama has worked across party lines.

“The question really remains, when has Barack Obama stood up and taken on his party
on anything of national significance?” Pawlenty asked. “It’s not leadership to jump in front of a parade. And I think Barack Obama’s book ‘The Audacity of Hope’ perhaps should be retitled ‘The Audacity of Hypocrisy.’”

VP watch

A pair of prospective running mates for Obama and McCain downplayed their interest in serving on the presidential tickets on “Fox News Sunday” — and one even said he wasn’t interested in an immediate Cabinet appointment.

Gov. Ed Rendell (D-Pa.), said he was committed to finishing out his four-year term as governor before accepting any Cabinet position within a potential Obama administration.

“In 2011, it’s my intention to walk out the door of the [Pennsylvania] capitol … in January of 2011. I know that disappoints some people in the capitol, but that’s my intention,” Rendell said. “And if there was a position open that I was interested in, like energy or transportation, I’d be honored to serve in an Obama administration, but not at the beginning, not until my time is finished.”

Rendell, one of Sen. Clinton’s leading surrogates during the Democratic primaries, said that President Clinton was “disappointed” that his wife came up short in the Democratic primary, but “is going to do every single thing that Barack Obama asks him to do … and make a great case for Sen. Obama as our next president.”

Meanwhile, former Ohio Rep. Rob Portman also disavowed interest in serving as McCain’s running mate, saying he preferred to remain with his family in Ohio instead of returning to Washington, where he most recently served as director of the Office of Management and Budget.

“I don’t expect to be asked, honestly,” said Portman. “I’m also, as you know, Chris, home after 15 years of commuting when I was in Congress and in the administration, and I’ve got three teenagers. It’s time to be home. I love being home.”

Portman, for his part, reiterated McCain’s unequivocal support for NAFTA despite the fact that the free trade agreement is viewed skeptically in the Rust Belt, including the electorally critical states of Ohio and Pennsylvania.

“It’s created an enormous number of jobs, including to Canada, which is our biggest trading partner,” said Portman. “And when that message gets out there, it makes it look a little silly that you have someone going around the state of Pennsylvania and Ohio blaming NAFTA for anything from high energy prices to the common cold. “

Third party

Both third-party presidential candidates appeared on the Sunday talk show circuit, with each offering an ample helping of criticism towards the major-party nominees.

Ralph Nader, who said Obama was “talking white” to appeal to voters earlier in the week, continued to attack the Democratic nominee on ABC’s “This Week,” accusing him of being too cozy with an assortment of corporate interests.

“Look at the positions he’s taken on that corporate America is very congenial to. If you want to cover everybody on health insurance … go to single payer. He’s opposed to single payer,” said Nader.

Meanwhile, former Republican Georgia Rep. Bob Barr, the Libertarian Party’s nominee, had harsh words for both McCain and his former party.

“What’s wrong with John McCain is symptomatic of what’s wrong with the Republican party in these first years of the 21st century. They talk one thing but do something different and that’s become very obvious to the American people,” Barr said on Fox.

Barr said he is the only candidate offering the combination of a crackdown on excessive government spending along with concern for civil liberties.

But he had to distance himself from past congressional votes in support of the Patriot Act and for legislation authorizing the war in Iraq — positions anathema to much of the Libertarian Party base.

“I certainly was wrong, along with a lot of others in Congress, and now realize that the vote in support of military operations in Iraq was not what the administration intended. They intended to occupy the country even though they didn’t tell us or the American people that at the time,” said Barr.

The governator

And a Sunday show wrapup wouldn’t be complete without mention of California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s appearance on “Meet the Press,” where he advocated for McCain’s candidacy but acknowledged their difference on offshore drilling, a proposal that Schwarzenegger opposes.

“I’m 100 percent behind him. That we don’t agree on everything, that’s clear; nor do I with my wife. I mean, it doesn’t mean that we should split, it just means that we don’t agree on certain things.”
He also announced his opposition to a statewide referendum that would amend the state’s constitution to ban gay marriage, while not sounding too opposed to the California Supreme Court’s recent controversial ruling that legalized same-sex marriage in the state.

“I think it’s good that California is leading in this way,” said Schwarzenegger. “I personally believe that marriage should be between a man and a woman. But at the same time I think that my belief, I don’t want to force on anyone else, so I think we should stay with the decision of the Supreme Court and move forward.”

Originally found @ Politico.com

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John McCain’s 300 Million Dollar Prize For a Battery

A day after his rival for the presidency, Barack Obama called for greater oversight for energy traders, John McCain is expected Monday to call for a $300 million prize for an innovation that would help the U.S. decrease its reliance on oil

During a town hall-style meeting at Fresno State University, McCain is expected to propose a $300 million prize for whomever can develop an automobile battery that “has the size, capacity, cost and power to leapfrog the commercially available plug-in hybrids or electric cars. . . (the battery) should deliver a power source at 30 percent of the current costs.

“In the quest for alternatives to oil, our government has thrown around enough money subsidizing special interests and excusing failure,” the prepared speech read. “From now on, we will encourage heroic efforts in engineering, and we will reward the greatest success.”

McCain also is calling for a “Clean Car Challenge” for U.S. automakers in hopes to encourage them to develop and sell vehicles with no carbon emissions. As part of the challenge, a $5,000 tax credit would be given to buyers of of such cars, making such vehicles more appealing to consumers and thus easier to sell.

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Obama Dismisses Joint Trip Invite By McCain as Political Stunt

Sen. Barack Obama is considering a trip to Iraq before the November elections, the Illinois Democrat said Wednesday.

Obama told the New York Times that his campaign was considering a trip overseas after he secures the Democratic presidential nomination and that “Iraq would obviously be at the top of the list of stops.”

Details of the trip are yet to be worked out, he told the Times.

Obama said he was considering visiting Iraq after Sen. John McCain had suggested that the two should make a joint trip to the country, a proposal Obama dismissed on Tuesday as “nothing more than a political stunt.”

“I think that if I’m going to Iraq, then I’m there to talk to troops and talk to commanders, I’m not there to try to score political points or perform,” Obama told the newspaper. “The work they’re doing there is too important.”

McCain Wednesday night said he is happy his likely general election opponent is considering a trip and believes that Obama would change his views on Iraq after spending some time there.

“It’s long overdue,” McCain said during a fundraiser in Beverly Hills, California. “It’s been 871 days since he was there, and I’m confident that when he goes he will then change his position on the conflict in Iraq because he will see the success that has been achieved on the ground.”

McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, and his fellow Republicans have strongly criticized Obama for not visiting Iraq since January 2006. The Republican National Committee has a running count of the days since his last trip to the country on its Web site.

“Senator Obama has been to Iraq once — a little over two years ago he went — and he has never seized the opportunity except in a hearing to meet with Gen. Petraeus,” McCain said at a campaign event in Reno, Nevada. “My friends this is about leadership and learning.

“He wants to sit down with the president of Iran but hasn’t yet sat down with Gen. Petraeus, the leader of our troops in Iraq?” McCain said.

Gen. David Petraeus is the top U.S. commander in Iraq and will soon be promoted to the U.S. Central Command, which is responsible for the Middle East.

McCain has criticized Obama for expressing a willingness to engage Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in diplomatic negotiations.

The Arizona Republican said Obama’s rejection of his proposal for joint trip showed “a fundamental misunderstanding of the gravity of this issue.”

The rest of this article can be read @ CNN.com

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After Pennsylvania The Polls Say…

The Gallup Daily

National
Obama 50, Clinton 42
McCain 46, Obama 45… McCain 47, Clinton 46

Rasmussen Reports

National
Obama 48, Clinton 43
McCain 47, Obama 44… McCain 47, Clinton 44

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McCain Hires Pageant Queen To Get Interns

John McCain has hired Miss South Carolina 2007, Ashley Zais, to be his intern coordinator — and no she’s not that South Carolina idiot beauty queen. Paging “the Iraq!”
Ashley Zais, John McCain
Zais will be in charge of organizing interns for the McCain campaign headquarters. General intern responsibilities include fundraising, phone banking, wearing berets, and staying the hell off of Cindy McCain’s man.

Calls to McCain’s camp were not returned.

This story found @ TMZ.com

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